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NJPW ‘New Japan Cup 2019’ (3.9.19) Results & Review

NJPW ‘New Japan Cup 2019’ (3.9.19) Results & Review

The tour rolls on to the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium for the second night of the 2019 New Japan Cup. For the rest of the tour I’ll only be discussing the tournament matches. There were four on this night. Let’s get started!

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Lance Archer def. Toa Henare @ 11:11 via Black Out – *3/4
Archer sends Henare to the corner, climbs to the second rope and Henare drops him with a powerbomb. Archer bails but Henare follows up with a plancha and follows Archer around the ring for a lap. He sends Archer back in, looks for a suplex, blocked, goes for a Samoan Drop but Archer slides out to the apron. Archer trips Henare and swings him into the rails. Henare breaks the count at nineteen but Archer follows with a wrist clutch lariat and pie faces Henare into the mat. A lariat takes Archer down and Henare blocks his comeback into a Samoan Drop. Henare takes to the skies where he’s met by Archer’s forearm. A pounce and chokeslam only keep Henare down for two. Henare fights off Archer’s shoulders, hits a headbutt, Archer returns with a lariat and Black Out to advance.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Mikey Nicholls def. HIKULEO @ 8:57 via Mikey Bomb – *3/4
HIKULEO overpowers Nicholls early. Nicholls takes it to the bigger man with chops leading to a Jado distraction and HIKULEO sending Nicholls over the top. Jado uses the cane, HIKULEO sends Nicholls into the rails and post, Nicholls fights back with chops. HIKULEO cuts off the comeback by hitting a backbreaker, sidewalk slam and camel clutch combination. Nicholls sidesteps a corner lariat, hits one of his own, knocks Jado off the apron, but misses a moonsault off the top. Another combination by HIKULEO with a lariat, book and legdrop. Jado uses the cane again, Nicholls turns a slam into a DDT, they exchange forearms, Nicholls lands a DVD, sliding lariat and a Mikey Bomb to score the win.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Will Ospreay def. Bad Luck Fale @ 11:31 via Hurricanrana Pin – **1/4
Ospreay charges at Fale with a John Woo into the corner and continues firing off. Jado trips Ospreay and Fale knocks him off the apron. Jado hits Ospreay with the cane and Fale drives him into the post and rails. Fale continues the attack on Ospreay’s back by first standing on, then delivering forearms and the Tongan Death Grip. Ospreay fires back with the handspring enziguri, corner dropkick and springboard forearm. Fale catches the boot, sets up for a grenade, Ospreay lands a headkick, Fale returns with a shoulder tackle and corner splash. Ospreay flips out of the grenade and hits an enziguri but Fale pulls the referee in front of him to stop the Oscutter. Jado cuts off a handspring with the cane, comes in for further attack but Ospreay catches the cane and uses it to tee off on both Jado and Fale. Oscutter is caught, Ospreay is sent to the ropes for a spear followed up with the grenade but Ospreay kicks out. The crowd rallies for Ospreay as Fale sets up for Bad Luck Fall. Ospreay ranas out and hooks the leg for the upset win.

New Japan Cup First Round Match
Kazuchika Okada def. Michael Elgin @ 24:06 via Rainmaker – ***1/4
Elgin gains the advantage early with a suplex. Okada sends Elgin to the corner, Elgin takes to the top, lands a dropkick and follows Okada out for a leg sweep into the apron. Elgin misses the slingshot splash and Okada is quick to comeback with a low dropkick and slingshot senton. He tries grinding Elgin down with a chinlock but Elgin powers out and hits both a powerslam and belly-to-belly. Okada ducks a lariat, takes a northern lights, sits on a sunset flip and hits the DDT. Elgin floats over on a top rope elbow drop and transitions to a crossface. Okada gets the ropes, blocks a powerbomb and catches Elgin in a flapjack, elbow drop off the top and Rainmaker pose.

Elgin fights out of the Rainmaker, hits an enziguri, two Germans, a dragon and a tiger. The crowd is finally starting to come alive. Okada fights out of the Elgin Bomb, catches Elgin coming off the top with a European but eats a boot and superkick. Okada turns a sunset bomb into a buckle bomb and Elgin bomb. Elgins turns Okada’s Rainmaker into his own and keeps wrist control. He then sets up for a Burning Hammer but Okada lands on his feet and looks for a Rainmaker but Elgin turns it into a powerbomb stack and back into the crossface. Okada struggles but escapes, takes a buckle bomb, fights out of an Elgin bomb, looks for a tombstone but Elgin escapes. Both duck Rainmakers, Elgin lands a spinning back elbow and removes his elbow pad for another. Okada catches Elgin into a spinning tombstone and Rainmaker to move on to the next round.

A show consisting of mostly big man brawling and Jado interference isn’t one to write home about. The main event hit the next gear at around the fifteen minute mark and from there it became something great. That’s the match to watch, the rest should be avoided.

Robert McCauley hasn't missed an NJPW show since the launch of NJPW World. Always be on the look out for his reviews where he shares results and gives his honest opinions on the goings-on of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.